Although cafes offer great first time job opportunities for young people in rural Scotland, there are very limited training opportunities in speciality coffee and barista skills. The Glen Lyon Coffee Academy is dedicated to fixing this by running a fully immersive three-month mentoring programme for anyone between 16 and 24 this autumn.
We are offering eight fully-funded places (excluding travel and accommodation) with most of the training taking place at our Roastery in Aberfeldy. Students who complete the course will be awarded a certificate that they can show future employers as evidence of the coffee skills they have learned.
We are now looking to recruit eight young students for this year’s programme. There is no previous experience required but there is an informal selection process and all prospective students will need to meet the project’s co-ordinator Paula Simpson before being taken onto the programme.
“We are thrilled to be running a new look Coffee Academy this year with all training delivered in-house by Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters,” said Academy co-ordinator Paula Simpson. “This course is open to all and designed to encourage young people with no previous experience to develop their skills and employability in the coffee industry.”
The Coffee Academy, now in its third year, combines four days of intensive training from the 14th to the 17th of October at the roastery with follow-up volunteer experience in partner cafes during November and December. The course at the Glen Lyon Coffee Roastery in Aberfeldy includes:
- An introduction to speciality coffee including origins, varietals, processing and shipping
- Meet a coffee producer and/or importer who will explain the challenges of growing and selling coffee
- A practical introduction to coffee roasting
- A journey into the world of sensory exploration in coffee
- Understanding and experimenting with different coffee extractions
- Barista skills and getting to grips with espresso machinery
- Customer service and team-working in a hospitality setting
- Further opportunities in the coffee industry
The Coffee Academy is administered by the youth work charity Project Northern Lights and funded by The Basil Death Trust. Students who successfully complete the course will be awarded an ‘Introduction to Speciality Coffee and Barista Skills’ certificate from Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters.
Anyone who is interested in coming are invited to a drop-in open day at the Roastery on Saturday the 17th of August, or to arrange for a remote Zoom chat with Paula directly. Places are limited so please get in touch if you are interested!
If you would like to attend or have any questions please write to Paula at: academy@glenlyoncoffee.co.uk
